FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
22 September 2026
DIFC registration gives the AI-native insurance infrastructure platform its first Gulf base, inside the region's largest innovation hub.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, 22 September 2026. Gangkhar Inc. has been registered by the Registrar of Companies of the Dubai International Financial Centre, establishing the insurance infrastructure platform's first operating base in the Middle East.
The registration was issued on July 31, 2026. Gangkhar holds DIFC commercial license CL14020 and is entered on the register as a Recognised Company under the Companies Law, DIFC Law No. 5 of 2018. Licensed activities cover computer systems and software design, data classification and analysis services, portal services, and technology research and development. The company's registered office is at Office IH-00-01-02-OF-01, Level 2, Innovation One, Dubai International Financial Centre, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, the building that houses the DIFC Innovation Hub.
What a DIFC license involves
A DIFC address is not just a formality. The Centre runs its own civil and commercial legal framework based on English common law, with its own courts and Registrar of Companies, independent of the UAE federal system. Applicants are assessed on beneficial ownership, business substance and the credibility of the business plan before a license is issued.
The Centre has become the region's principal address for financial services. DIFC reported 10,018 active registered companies at the end of the first half of 2026, a 30 percent increase over twelve months, including 1,134 regulated financial services firms and 165 insurance and reinsurance entities. Insurance and reinsurance business in the Centre reached 4.2 billion US dollars in gross written premiums in 2025. The DIFC Innovation Hub now hosts 1,933 AI, FinTech and innovation companies, up 39 percent year on year.
A market with room to grow
The opening sits between that infrastructure and how much protection the region actually buys. Alpen Capital puts GCC gross written premiums at 44.7 billion US dollars in 2024, forecast to reach 61.8 billion by 2030, with insurance penetration at 1.9 percent of GDP against a global average of 6.5 percent. The UAE leads the region at 3.2 percent.
Gangkhar builds the layer that lets banks, retailers, mobility platforms and telecom operators place insurance inside their own customer journeys, and lets carriers distribute through those channels without replacing the policy systems they already run. Products are configured rather than coded, and claims, renewals and servicing run through governed AI agents.
“The Gulf is not a market you serve from a distance. A DIFC license puts us in the same jurisdiction, the same time zone and the same regulatory conversation as our partners,” said Federico Spagnoli, Founder and CEO of Gangkhar.
“Penetration across the GCC is a third of the global average, and that gap does not close by selling policies the old way. It closes when protection is built into the apps, wallets and checkouts people already use,” said Xavier Marcillac, Head of MENA at Gangkhar.
The Dubai registration extends a footprint that already covers Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific and more recently the US. The company reports 85 million US dollars in secured gross written premium, more than 20 active programs and more than 10 capacity partners across four regions. Its Sherpa+ platform has completed a SOC 2 Type II audit with an unqualified opinion and no testing exceptions.
From Dubai, Gangkhar plans to serve the UAE, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the wider GCC, with Africa and South Asia reachable from the same hub. Initial focus covers embedded protection in banking and payments, e-commerce, travel, mobility and telecommunications, alongside partnerships with carriers and reinsurers already in the Centre.
About Gangkhar
Gangkhar is the operating system for modern protection: an AI-native platform that lets carriers, MGAs, brokers and digital platforms configure insurance products, run the operations behind them and optimize them continuously, without replacing the core systems they already have. Embedded protection, coverage placed inside a partner's own customer journey, is one capability it supports. Climb Higher. Protect Smarter. Learn more at www.gangkhar.com
About DIFC
The Dubai International Financial Centre is a financial free zone and one of the leading financial hubs in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia. It operates an independent legal framework based on English common law, with its own courts and Registrar of Companies, and hosts the DIFC Innovation Hub.
Media contact
Paul Oudenhoven
Business contact, Middle East and North Africa
Xavier Marcillac, Head of MENA